Knesset 19
Law Proposal for the Establishment of the National Advisory Committee for the Promotion of
Longevity and Quality of Life for the Elderly Population
(Note: Content parts – "Rationale", Sections 1-6, Section G – "Amendments to other laws",
Administrative parts – sections – 7-27
Hebrew version – http://www.singulariut.com/2013/03/659)
Rationale
The longevity and quality of life of the elderly population are crucial national priorities, necessary for the normal functioning of the entire society. On the contrary, the deteriorative aging process is the root cause and main endangering factor for most chronic diseases afflicting the developed world generally and Israel in particular.
The death rate in Israel is approximately 0.52%, out of which over 90% die as a result of age-related diseases due to the aging process. In other words, each year approximately 40,000 residents of Israel die from aging, twice the number of all the casualties of war throughout the country’s history, and twice the number of all deaths from traffic accidents throughout the country’s history.
According to the report of the Bank of Israel, published in March 2012, both the private and public national expenditures on the senescent population in Israel (persons over 65 years old, comprising about 10% of the country’s population) is NIS 9.9 billion (~$ 2.5 billion) yearly, which comprises 1.2% of the entire Gross Domestic Product.
Aging is a basic material process manifesting in the accumulation of damage, the gradual deregulation of metabolic balance, and impairment of normal functioning. This is a process causing the largest proportion of disability and mortality, and is the major endangering factor for most chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and other diseases – and it should be treated accordingly.
Yet, medical research in Israel and other developed countries focuses on the symptoms of the deteriorative aging process and not on its prevention or treatment. Despite their immediate importance, palliative measures, such as increasing nursing care, will not drastically improve the healthy longevity of the elderly, will not resolve the economic burden and human suffering caused by the process of aging, but will only slightly relieve and postpone them. In contrast, investments and efforts in the research and development directed toward prevention and treatment of the deteriorative aging process, if given sufficient support, may be able to bring about a substantial improvement.
While the deteriorative aging process, that is the accumulation of structural damage, impairment of metabolic balance and functioning, is a disabling and debilitating process that requires prevention and treatment; the rise in healthy life-expectancy is its cure. In other words, the spiritual maturation during the years and the increase in healthy life expectancy are not and should not be synonymous with degeneration and deterioration.
The trends of increasing healthy life-expectancy, as well as the results of basic research on aging, indicate the practical possibility of intervention into the aging process and the chronic diseases derived from it, and as a result demonstrate the practical possibility of healthy life extension for the elderly population.
This positive process can be reinforced and accelerated for the long term by regulated support of basic and applied research, as well as technological, industrial and environmental development directed toward delaying and treatment of the deteriorative aging process and for improving the quantity and quality of life for the elderly population.
These measures will reduce the burden of the aging process on Israeli economy and will alleviate the suffering of the aged and the grief of their close ones. On the positive side, if granted sufficient support, these measures can increase the healthy life expectancy for the elderly, extend their period of productivity and their contribution to the society, and enhance their sense of enjoyment, purpose and valuation of life.
In view of this and in accordance to the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, and in accordance to the Jewish principle: “Do not reject a soul for another soul” – there is a need to give to the Promotion of Longevity and Quality of Life for the Elderly Population the necessary support that they deserves, and hence establish the National Advisory Committee for the Promotion of Longevity and Quality of Life for the Elderly Population.
